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Unit Title: The Pushcart War: a novel
Click here for Teacher
Resources: Link to Massachusetts
Standards: Brief Summary of Unit
(including what students will understand as a result of this
unit) Drama Strategies Key Concepts (What statement(s)
clearly expresses what I want students to know and
understand?)
Essential Questions (What specific questions will guide this unit and focus teaching and learning?)
Students will know Students will be able
to vocabulary words related to
issues in the book discuss conflict and
resolution using proper terms and
concepts simple drama skills for
developing short scenes: how to play a character,
how to speak with vocal variety interpret themes and ideas
dramatically and creatively how to develop creative
writing with a strong point of view write monologues that satire is a kind of
humor that pokes fun at serious events or important
people identify satire in literature
and in cartoon editorials how to write concise
summaries of each chapter in the novel differentiate and prioritize
information, organize plot points in sequence, and
encapsulize actions and ideas in short, clear
sentences
EVIDENCE OF STUDENT UNDERSTANDING: Summary of performance tasks and projects
Summary of quizzes, tests and prompts.
Other Evidence (e.g.
observations, work samples and dialogues)
1. Introduce unit and major theme of conflict/resolution. Read first three chapters of Pushcart War together. Discuss: why are pushcarts important? Who would use them? Then? Now? What is satire? (see resources)
2. Introduce vocabulary (vocabulary words in resources). Divide students into groups to find definitions of vocabulary words in dictionary. Each student then chooses one vocabulary word and draws a cartoon to depict it. [teacher collects cartoons and "publishes" them as a picture dictionary - see sample in resources]
3. Begin drama work: vocal warm-up/theater games (resources)
4. Using the novel, students, as a class, make a list of what the trucks in The Pushcart War carry. Give each student a letter of the alphabet. Homework: Using their yellow pages, make a list of all the things trucks could carry that begins with your letter of the alphabet.
5. Post trucking lists around room. Discuss chapters 1-6. Model chapter summaries: find clear, concise sentences that summarize the action of each chapter. Read aloud chapter seven and write chapter summary together with class. (sample chapter summaries in resources) Homework: Write chapter summaries.
6. Starting a Pushcart Business Read chapter 8-9-10. Teacher leads discussion: why are pushcarts used in big cities? How are they important to earning a living and to whom? What kinds of people need pushcarts? Introduce the idea of starting a pushcart business: what would you sell? Have students list 3-5 things they would like to sell in a pushcart. Using the survey form (resources), students collect statistical data to help choose one product they will sell. They can interview each other, or interview classmates in another room. Homework: students finish surveys using more data from friends and family at home.
7. Students share which product they will sell and why. Students fill out application form for pushcart license (resources). Discuss concepts of free market, protest, what options pushcart operators have at this point in the book--should they fight back against the trucks? How?
8. Brainstorm a list of interview questions to ask Quincy Market pushcart vendors.
9. Take class on field trip to Quincy Market to interview vendors (or any venue that has pushcarts). Bring clipboards, notebooks, camera.
10. Read chapter 11-13 and write summaries of each. Discuss satire; issues in novel.
11. Building Pushcarts (collaboration with art teacher if possible) Students each build a pushcart using shoeboxes, paints, clay, recyclables. (photos of sample pushcarts in resources) Homework: Read chapters 11-13 and write summaries of each.
12. Teacher leads drama warmup. Review chapter summaries. Read chapter 14 together in class (theories about flat tires). Teacher and class brainstorm a list of possible scenes from the chapter. In small groups, students improvise these scenes. Teacher leads discussion about how to look at dramatic work and what positive criticism is. Homework: Read chapters 15-19, write chapter summaries
13. Read chapters 15-19 and discuss. Write chapter summaries.
14. Photos/point of view exercise: teacher pins photographs of peace demonstrations, riots, political gatherings to the walls of the classroom. Students view the images, then choose one person in one photograph to study. Students then make a frozen statue of their person-- trying to imitate them exactly with their posture and face. The teacher walks around to each character and taps them on the shoulder -- when tapped, the student speaks one sentence their character would say. To end the exercise, students write a first-person paragraph from the point of view of their character in the photo.
15. Read chapter 20 together. Discuss issues of book: unfair taxation, market inflation, political protests and demonstrations. Each student chooses a character to "be." Begin a jounal of their character by answering guided writing prompts such as "how do you think the pushcart/truck problem should be resolved?"
16. Read chapters 21-25. Standing in someone else's shoes: teacher prepares cards with various situations outlined on them (see resources for sample point-of-view ideas). Cutout footprints for two students. Each takes on the view of one of the characters and they improvise a debate. Then they switch. Homework: Write chapter summaries.
17. Review summaries. Students write a short monologue that makes their character's point of view and relationship to other characters clear. It also decribes their role in the events of the novel. Create a list of criteria that will make the monologue interesting and dramatic. Homework: Continue writing character monologue.
18. Character interviews. Each student invents a list of ten interview questions that could be asked of them. Half the students become their "characters." and sit at their desks. Place the interview questions so someone sitting in the interviewer's chair can read them. The other half of the class is allowed to interview the characters. They can ask any of the ten questions on the sheet or make up one FREE question based on what they've learned talking with the character. Once an interview is finished, the interviewer may move on to another character. Homework: Finish character monologues.
19. Read chapters 26-27 and write summaries.
20. Read chapters 28-29 together in class. Discuss peaceful protest: what options to either side have at this point in the book? What do you think should be done to bring about a peaceful resolution? What do they need to accomplish this? What resources do the trucks have? The pushcarts? Homework: Write chapter summaries for 28-29. Find an editorial or editorial cartoon to bring to class.
21. Read chapters 30-34. Discuss the role of the press in politics. Discuss the difference between a news story, an editorial and a letter to the editor. Examine editorial cartoons and discuss what role they play in reporting the news. Have each student write a letter to editor for or against pushcarts or trucks as ordinary citizen. Post them around the room.
22. Discuss chapters 30 to 34 in class. Write chapter summaries together. Read chapter 35 together in class and discuss peace conference. Will it work? How does your character feel about the peace agreement? Homework: Read chapter 36 and finish all chapter summaries.
23-24. Group drama warm-up. Perform character monologues. Each student takes a turn reading out loud/performing what they've written. Class and teacher give feedback.
25. Summary. Unit test on novel. Evaluate unit with students: which activities did they like best and why? Least and why?
What resources are helpful and/or necessary to accomplish this curriculum?
Books The Pushcart War, Jean Merrill, Lyman Cumberly, and Ronni Solbert (illustrator), Yearling Books, 1987. Available on amazon.com for $4.99 each. From the publisher: The pushcarts have declared war! New York City's streets are clogged with huge, rude trucks that park where they want, hold up traffic, and bulldoze into anything that is in their way, and the pushcart peddlers are determined to get rid of them. But the trucks are just as determined to get rid of the pushcarts, and chaos results in the city. The pushcarts have come up with a brilliant strategy that will surely let the hot air out of their enemies. The secret weapon--a peashooter armed with a pin; the target--the vulnerable truck tires. Once the source of the flat tires is discovered, the children of the city joyfully join in with their own pin peashooters. The pushcarts have won one battle, but can they win the war against a corrupt mayor who taxes the pins and prohibits the sale of dried peas?
Websites For the World Book article on satire, click: http://worldbook.bigchalk.com/492320.htm From www.bigchalk.com: an introduction to satire http://www.bigchalk.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/WOPortal.woa/wa/HWCDA/file?fileid=215039&flt=High_School&pathTitles=/Literary_Genres_Subgenres/Satire/An_Introduction_to_Satire
Materials Learning Links. c 1988 The Pushcart War. NOVEL-TIES - packet includes activities, vocabulary, and chapter summary tests (including vocabulary and questions). to order or get a free catalog: http://www.learninglinks.com/
Sundance Publications offers a teacher's resource guide (including worksheets, teacher guide and standardized tests) and paperbacks through their "Literature is for Thinking" program. Go to www.sundancepub.com and search for Pushcart War by Jean Merrill. Prices and packages are listed.
Curriculum developed by the Department of Drama and Dance, Cambridge public school teachers and Studebaker Theater artists involved with the Cambridge Public School Drama Collaborative, a project funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. CPSDC is a multi-year teacher training program that helps teachers integrate drama into the curriculum.
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